Garage elevator



Sept. 22, 1931. E. GEIGER GARAGE ELEVATOR Filed Nov. 3, 1927 WIT E SES AINVENTOR Ernst 6e. er

ATTORN EY Patented Sept. 22, 1931 UNETED STATES PATENT orrice 4 ERNSTGEIGlBR, OF IRVINGTON, NEW JERSEY GARAGE ELEVATOR Application filedliovember 3, 1927., Serial No. 230,847.

It will be recalled that in'the prior patent I showed a 'ara e structurein which .an r

endless chain of storage cabins or elevators ran around a central space,which space pro- 0 vidcd receiving and delivery floors for cars to bestored in the cabins. In accordance with the patent, receiving anddelivery floors were arranged at different levels- Cars on the receivingfloors were driven into the cabins,

and the cabins transferred to the opposite side of the structure, sothat the stored cars could be driven out on to the. opposite side of thedelivery floor, whereby the necessity for backing the carsg'either intoor out of the cabins was eliminated.

In accordance with the present invention I have devised an improved typeof storage cabin or elevator for use in the endless cabin chains, whichwill permit the cars to be loaded in the cabins and unloaded therefromwithout the attendance of an operator in the car.

The new type of cabin greatly facilitates handling of the cars insofaras loading and unloading them is concerned, permits the use ofrelatively smaller cabins or elevators, and consequently eliminates lossof time in the manipulation of the endless elevator chain.

Other objects'of the invention are to pro-- vide an elevator or cabin ofthe character noted above, of extremely simple, practical construction,which will be highly efficient in use.

Vith the above noted and other objects in view, the invention consistsin certain novel features of construction and]combinationsv andarrangements of parts, as will be more fully hereinafter set forth andpointed out.

in the claims. The invention may be more fully understood from thefollowing descripl5 tion in connection with the accompanying drawings,wherein Fig. 1 is a fragmentary sectional View through the lower part ofa skyscraper garage showing cabins constructed in accordance with thepresent invention in use.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through one of the ca binsand associated portion's'of the shaftway and receiving floor, the dottedlines indicating the position of one bridgeand its associated handlewhen the bridge has been swung downwardly.

Fig. 1, which is for the most part diagrammatic, shows a building 10having shaftways 11 and 12 atopposite sides thereof.

Guided for movement in these shaftways are series of car-storage cabinsor elevators 13, these cabins being connected together on an endlesschain i l or other operating device. As the endless chain is driven,cabins pass from one shaftway to another through a shaftway-conncctingspace 15 in the basement of a; building, and through a similar space(not illustrated) near the building roof. The

space between the shaftways may be divided into a number of floors.Certain of the floors such as 16 and 1'? may be used. for offices or forpurposes entirely foreign tothe garage business, but-preferably thelower floor 18 and the superjacent floor 19 constitute re-, ceiving anddelivery floors respectively for automotive vehicles to be received andstored in the cabins of the garage. 7

The construction as thusfar describedis entirely 'conyentional, anddisclosed in my prior patent above referred to; the present inventionbeing more particularly concerned with the construction of the elevatorsof cal ins proper, one of which is illustrated in Fig. 2. This cabin ispreferably, although not necessarily, of the two-deck type includingside walls 20 connected by upper and lower cross decks 21 and 22 uponwhich the cars are tobe received. The cabin is preferably roofed ifdesired, but may include only a skeleton roof at 25 by steel beams,suspension wires, or

discharging ends of the elevators. Each floor adjacent its discharge endincludes a tilting platform section 26 mounted on a rock shaft 27 andcontrolled by a hand lever 28 associated with a sector rack 29. Thetilting platform sections 26 are long enough to slightly overlap thedelivery floor 19 when the handles are swung to move them into thehorizontal dotted line position of Fig. 2. In order to clear thebuilding floors and permit free passage of the cabins up and down thevertical shaftways 11 and 12, the platform sections 26 must be swungupwardly to the full line position of Fig. 2.

These swinging platform sections 26 serve a dual function. In the firstplace, when a car such as the car 30 is rolled from the receiving floorinto one of the cabins, it will roll gravitationally across the floor ofthe cabin until checked by the up-turned platform 26 which stops it.\Vhen a car. such as the car 81 in Fig. 1, is to be discharged on to thedelivery floor 19. an attendant on the delivery fioor grasps the handle28 and swings the platform 26 downwardly as shown in dotted lines inFig. 2. In this position the platform serves as a bridge over which thedischarged car gravitationally rolls on to the delivery floor.

By virtue of the construction described above, the cabins may becomparatively small, since there is no necessity for the driverremaining in the car during a loading and unloading operation. The carsmay be manu ally rolled on to the elevators and will roll off undertheir own momentum when the bridges are lowered. Considerable time isalso gained, particularly in unloading the cars. This time factor is ofcourse important in a large plant where there is an almost continuousstream of cars awaiting storage and delivery.

Obviously, various changes and alterations might be made in the generalform and arrangement of the parts described without departing from theinvention. Hence I do not wish to limit myself to the details set forth,but shall consider myself at liberty to make such changes andalterations as fairly fall withinthe spirit and scopeof the appendedclaims.

I claim:

1. As a new article of manufacture, an automobile elevator of the classdescribed having a door opening, an inclined floor sloping downwardlytoward the door opening, and a tiltable floor section adjacent the dooropening normally blocking gravitational rolling movement of a carthrough the door.

2. As a new article of manufacture, an automobile elevator of the classdescribed having a door opening, an inclined floor sloping downwardlytoward the door opening, and a tiltable floor section adjacent the dooropening normally blocking gravitational rolling movement of a carthrough the door, said tiltable section being movable to a positionwhere it constitutesa bridge over which acar may gravitationally rollfrom the elevator onto a floor with which the elevator is approximatelyregistered.

3. As a new article of manufacture, an automobile elevator of the classdescribed having a door opening, an inclined floor sloping downwardlytoward the door opening, and a tiltable floor section adjacent the dooropening normally blocking gravitational rolling movement of a carthrough the door, said tiltable section being movable to a positionwhere it constitutes a bridge over which a car may gravitationally rollfrom the elevator onto a floor with which the elevator is approximatelyregistered, said tiltable section in the latter position projectingbeyond the elevator proper.

4. As a new article of manufacture, an automobile elevator of the classdescribed having a door opening, an inclined floor sloping downwardlytoward the door opening, and means normally blocking gravitationalegress of a car from the elevator, said means comprising a bridgeadapted in one position to block movement of the car and in anotherposition to serve as a gang-plank over which the car leaves theelevator.

Signed at New York, inthe county of New York and State of New York this1st day of November A. D. 1927.

ERNST GEIGER.

